I am back into the dinosaur land!

Read our review for ARK Survival Evolved and let us know if you wish to join our server and play this epic game with us  

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Today we are proud and excited to announce the launch of the ARK Sponsored Mod Program. ARK has always viewed modding and the ARK Dev Kit as a very important aspect of our game. We want to look into ways to help our modders take their projects to the next step, be it through more robust capabilities in the Dev Kit, hosting competitions with large prize-pools, incorporating them into the game, or just generally working and partnering up with modders and their projects. 

So there you go, Wildcard, will now be selecting 15 modders and paying them  $4000 per month (each) for their work. Wildcard not only considers their fans as consumers but also business partners to some level. After all the fans will know the best what they enjoy the most and as such they can create some fantastic content. 

We used to host a server for ARK which we called South Pacific Islands. I am definitely considering in launching it once again as so much of the new content was released very recently.

Hats off to Wildcard <3

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This, however, is not the only reason why I
find ARK interesting. You see, for my dissertation I had to write a chapter on
how videogame developers engage with the community, particularly content
creators. I have thus decided to investigate how ARK’s developer, Studio
Wildcard, addresses its community and utilise my findings as a case study. I
was actually pleasantly surprised with how much of time and effort they
dedicate considering that they are a small independent company.  Its flagship game was in the “Early Access”
state.

Of course, there are many impatient users
who cannot bear the bugs that every major update brings.  We for example had to start over a number of
times; losing all our buildings, dinosaurs and characters. With the latest DLC
being released the other day ARK’s forums and discussion boards were flooded
with outraged users who experienced bugs and generally found it unfair that
they had to pay money for a DLC. Let me just clarify, that even though I did
purchase that DLC, I hardly had a chance to enjoy it yet as my server admin
team still did not implement cross-ARK transfer and the update actually bugged
my server quite a bit. I however still find Studio Wildcard quite unique and
believe that they deserve kudos.

You see, ARK runs on Unreal Engine and as
the result Studio Wildcard allowed its users to create various mods for the
game. I always found it a good appreciative gesture from the developer when
they release modding tools for the game.
ARK is different.

A couple of months ago Studio Wildcard
announced that they have paid the creators of the map “The Center” and a total
conversion mod “Primitive+” a several month salary for their content.
Additionally, those modders were hired by the company to continue work on their
content. Those mods became official yet free DLCs.  This means that players on Xbox One (and PS4
version coming soon) can also enjoy the new map and mod.

Speaking
to Kotaku, lead
designer Jeremy Stiglitz said that they are prepared to pay, “a
considerable amount of money,” for content developed by modders.

“Going
forward, we intend to continue to regularly select what we consider to be the
most polished mods from among the many thousands available on Steam Workshop –
often identified through open-entry cash-prize mod Contests, such as the one
we’re currently running, which we use to gauge community enthusiasm,”
Stiglitz said. “And then when we determine what we think are the standout
exemplars, we’ll make more offers.”

Additionally, Studio Wildcard featured a
fan-made creature called the DodoRex as part of the ARK: Fear Evolved Halloween
event in 2015. The giant thing would spawn from time to time with an army of
Zomdodos. Dodorex then appeared during various community events in the game.

I honestly never
seen such appreciation of the modding community by the developer in a while. Particularly
if that developer is a small, independent company founded only TWO years ago.

Additionally,
Wildcard has yearly battle tournaments where teams of players compete for their
survival in the “Survival of the Fittest” game mode, which essentially is a
virtual Hunger Games. The last tribe standing received a grand prize of $20K in
2015, the prize DOUBLED this year.

In fact, Studio
Wildcard invited 70 Let’s Players for their 2015 tournament to compete a week
after the launch of “Survival of the Fittest” game mode. This way they not only
successfully promoted own product but shown appreciation to their Let’s Play
community. Here’s one of my favourite streams from the event:

Lastly, Jen, the
community manager and QA analyst for Studio Wildcard, spends her entire day
tweeting and troubleshooting the users, collecting bug reports and organising
various community events at major expos. I honestly have no idea if she ever
sleeps, because she replies to nearly all of my questions within hours! Give
her a follow btw, she’s awesome.

I was playing ARK
for more than a year now and I enjoyed seeing it evolving into an amazing game
and I cannot wait for a full release later this year.  Until then I will carry on taking care of my
Trex called Fluffy.

PS. CHECK OUT
THEIR TREX AT PAX WEST!!!

#PAXRex line going strong today. She is stealing the show as per usual. #scorchedark pic.twitter.com/XfNc8jucIT

— Jen @ PAX West (@bubblywums) September 2, 2016

The post Studio Wildcard and its Community Engagement appeared first on Tomb of Ash.

+some WIPs to see how it evolved into this awesomeness!

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The post appeared first on Tomb of Ash.

The main argument that carnivores are
saying is that “bloody dung beetles coming over here stealing our poop,
let’s take control of our stool! We could invest that poop elsewhere”; no
one specified where else or how they would potentially invest the poop. 

“Herbs [Herbivores] are scaremongering
by saying an asteroid will hit us if we don’t vote their own way… pfft
that’ll never happen!” said the T-Rex known as Fluffy.

A Dodo from the
herbivore wing on another hand said that dung beetles provide oil and
fertilizer that is needed for our farms and turret towers which provide food
and security for everyone “the generators also support the A/C units that
help the incubation process”, said Dodo.

Egg Ryan from the Oviraptor community said "I don’t
give a shit about the so called “#dinoxit” since I get all the eggs from everyone either way”.

I vetoed the referendum by restarting the server. 

Business as usual here at Tomb of Ash you guys <3

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Here’s the official synopsis:

As a man or woman stranded, naked, freezing, and starving on the unforgiving shores of a mysterious island called ARK, use your skill and cunning to kill or tame and ride the plethora
of leviathan dinosaurs and other primeval creatures roaming the land. Hunt, harvest resources, craft items, grow crops, research technologies, and build shelters to withstand the elements and store valuables, all while teaming up with (or preying upon) hundreds of other players to survive, dominate… and escape!

So yes, one can simply describe ARK as a sandbox game but what makes ARK different is the presence of dinosaurs that can either kill you or, once tamed, help you.

You start off with no resources, tools or clothes and your initial task is to gather stones, wood and thatch to create a stone pickaxe. With that tool you can then mine flint which is essential to
build a stone hatchet. More tools and technologies become available to the player as they level up and also, as the game is still in early access stage, as the game receives updates. Wildcard provides regular updates where they
tweak game mechanics, optimisations and add new dinosaurs and technologies.

I started playing ARK last year and I have an excellent gaming PC, but even that could not run ARK on medium-high details without a drop in FPS. Wildcard has optimised the game since and if you, like myself, played the game before and had issues with performance, do give it another go as soon as possible.

ARK is more than just a sandbox; it is a massive living world with its own rules. Animals and dinosaurs have specific behaviour and spawning patterns. The spawning system is quite sophisticated, for example I never had issues with dinosaurs being spawned at random behind my back as I walk but now there’s this nasty Alpha raptor running around the island, across the river from my base since about a week!

Aside from gathering resources, crafting, building, farming you can also tame dinosaurs who can help you with a variety of tasks. Some of them can’t be ridden, but every single one of them will try to protect you from enemies, unless you will set them to “passive” mode. The variety of creatures you can tame is impressive: there are goofy dodos, quick and fierce raptors, mighty brontosauruses and tens of others that rule the land, with peaceful Ichtyosauruses, blood-thirsty Megalodons and cowardly pteranodons and fierceful argentavises – plus others that rule water and air respectfully.

As your character levels up you can choose which attribute to improve and which new engram to learn and eventually you will be able to craft things like generators and machine gun turrets.

Even though there’s currently only one map available to play, it is big enough for you to explore and it has a variety of locations with different weather conditions. The game in fact pushes you to explore the island, as you won’t be able to harvest some resources close to your base (wherever you are.) The game also has massive caves for the player to explore and this is where my inner Tomb Raider fan goes crazy; caves were a huge part of the classic Tomb Raider games, notably the first three games in particular, and all three had dinosaurs in them.

Surely it is not a platformer game and even though you can switch to a 3rd person view the game mechanics are completely different to a Tomb Raider game, but nevertheless I can’t help but draw some heart-warming similarities. There are also some underwater caves, but I haven’t been able to explore them just yet.

The main problem with the game in my opinion is optimisation: it runs fine on medium-high details but I do want to play it on higher details so I can enjoy this beautiful world to the fullest. Most say that even on medium-high details the game looks absolutely stunning. Sometimes I just walk around my base at night and enjoy looking at the moon.

Another problem is a lack of character customisation. You can adjust various body parameters and even the colour of the character’s hair and eyes, but you can’t change facial features or hairdos. Nevertheless, the game offers you a variety of wearables that you can either unlock or earn from killing an Alpha Raptor for example. You can also craft a painting brush and paint your clothes or equipment, dinosaurs and buildings just the way you want to.

In fact, you can also craft a painting canvas and draw whatever you want, here’s a masterpiece that I have on the wall:

Players can create tribes, tribes can go on war on one another or trade and help eachother, creating a very interesting social component. If you are playing this game or plan to buy it, do join our dedicated “South Pacific Islands” server, we are a friendly bunch

ARK is so huge that it has its own Wiki website, where you can learn about every single creature and resource.

With the game being in the early access it’s clear that there are some bugs, but the game is totally playable already. You may find it a bit expensive for an early access game but do consider that you are sponsoring an independently produced game that will capture you for many weeks or months! The full version of the game is set to be released later this year so you have a chance to learn how to play and level up your character
before the release, though you still may find that there are lots of players playing the game already.

ARK: Survival Evolved was released last year and is available now as an Early Access game on Steam and Xbox One with a PS4 version being in development.

Special Thanks:

A. Croft

The post [REVIEW] ARK: Survival Evolved appeared first on Tomb of Ash.

Server Details:
Name: South Pacific Islands
IP: 188.165.248.25:27015

add server to your favourites
Buy Ark on Steam

Having problems connecting?

1 In Steam press View=>Servers. Select Ark: Survival Evolved

2 

Change to [FAVORITES] tab and press [ADD A SERVER] paste

188.165.248.25:27015 as IP address  and press [ADD THIS ADDRESS TO FAVORITES]. South Pacific Islands should then appear in your Servers list. Click [connect].

3 Run Ark, press on Join Ark

4 Select Favourites as a Filter

5 Join South Pacific Islands!

The post Come to South Pacific Islands and Ride Your Own Dinosaur! appeared first on Tomb of Ash.